Blue Chip Buying Boosts Shares

The Madrid General Index rose 4.35 to 400.31, after adding 1.06 Wednesday. Volume totaled 52.71 billion pesetas from 44.01 billion pesetas Wednesday with 24.37 million shares traded -- up from 20.35 million shares Wednesday. The IBEX-35 index of the 35 most liquid stocks on the Madrid Stock Exchange, meanwhile, gained 50.18 to 4616.72.